


The Wildcard Couple

by DeadlyChildArtemis



Series: Olivarry Week 2016 [3]
Category: Arrow (TV 2012), DC's Legends of Tomorrow (TV), Supergirl (TV 2015), The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: College AU, Dancing, M/M, Olivarry Week 2016, dancing competition, day 4: free day, the thing you never knew you wanted until you got it
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-06-09
Updated: 2016-06-09
Packaged: 2018-07-14 00:10:34
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,452
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7144139
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DeadlyChildArtemis/pseuds/DeadlyChildArtemis
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Barry had only signed up for the school dancing competition because of 2 reasons: Iris's insistence, and the semester of credit it gave to all participants. He did not expect to be stuck with Oliver Queen, nor to find himself loving dancing so much.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Wildcard Couple

_ Central City University’s Dancing With The Students is now open for sign-ups! If you want to sign up, go to the Livingston Dance Hall in the Kreisburg Hall of Athletics. Spots are limited, so get your name on the list quickly! _

 

Barry, of course, was late to the first meeting of that Dancing with the Students competition that Iris had signed them up for. In his defense, he had a valid reason this time. Patty Spivot had made a mess in the chemistry lab when she mixed up hydrogen chloride and hydrogen peroxide and created a massive foam bath, and she had asked him to help her clean it up. Barry wouldn’t even even bother showing if it weren’t for the fact that his curriculum was sorely lacking in “fine arts” and the competition counted as a semester. 

He reached the open door or the dance studio and peeked in. A small crowd of students, maybe 15 or so, were gathered around a guy and a girl standing on a riser. Behind the two on the riser, a dozen students wearing dance leotards stood in a row.

“-I’m Oliver, and this is Laurel. We have 15 dancers, who will be pairing up with each of you. Remember, dancers will be graded on their effort, and partnered students earn a semester of extracurricular credit- Oh, looks like another is joining us,” the guy said. 

Barry gave Oliver a sheepish grin as he speed-walked towards the group to stand next to Iris. “Hi, I’m Barry. Uh, sorry, I’m late.”

Laurel replied, “That’s ok, we were just getting started. For the first time, more boys have signed up than girls, so there will be a male/male pairing. If you don’t want to be that pairing, stand over here.” She indicated an area to the group’s right. In a flash, Barry was the only guy standing on the left side of the group. He blinked owlishly. 

“Hey, wait-” he got out before Laurel nudged Oliver off the riser, who approached Barry with a grin. 

“Looks like I’m your new dance partner, Barry.”

Barry glanced helplessly at Iris, who only gave him an amused grin. “Great,” he mumbled. 

 

After several minutes of sitting against the wall, the other couples had been chosen. Laurel wrote up a list and read it out loud. 

“Ok, so our groups are as follows: 

  1. Oliver Queen and Barry Allen
  2. Ronnie Raymond and Caitlin Snow
  3. Sara Lance and Leonard Snart
  4. Lisa Snart and Mick Rory
  5. Shawna Baez and Cisco Ramon
  6. Kara Danvers and Winn Schott
  7. Thea Queen and Alex Davis
  8. Roy Harper and Felicity Smoak
  9. Eddie Thawne and Iris West
  10. Jesse Quick and Wally West
  11. John Diggle and Lyla Michaels
  12. Kendra Saunders and Ray Palmer
  13. Carter Hall and Alex Danvers
  14. Jefferson Jackson and Mari McCabe
  15. Laurel Lance and Tommy Merlyn”**



Oliver came over to Barry and gave him a sheepish smile. “Sorry if this is making you uncomfortable or anything.”

Barry shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. I’m actually bisexual-not that it matters, we’re just dancing, of course! It just feels a little weird that we’ll be the only same-sex couple dancing, you know?”

Oliver nodded. “So, rooms C-F are open every day 24 hours except Saturday. When do you want to have our first practice?”

Barry thought for a moment. “My chemistry lab hours are between 3-5 pm, so how about tomorrow at 6? How long will we be practicing?”

“Probably about 2 hours per session,” Oliver replied. “The first week’s theme is modern dance, by the way. I’ve got a song for our first dance already, if you want to listen to it.”

Barry nodded, relaxing. Oliver clearly knew what he was doing. 

 

The next day at 6, Barry made his way to room F. He made sure to be on time, even leaving chem lab early. Even so, he barely made it on time. The door to room F was open, soft yellow light pouring out from the door. On the inside of the door was a clipboard holding a sheet of paper labeled  **RESERVED** , with a list of times and names. At the 6-8 pm slot,  _ Oliver Queen _ was written in black ink.

“Looks like you’re on time for once,” Oliver called from inside the room. Barry jumped a little.

“I’m not late to  _ everything _ . In fact, I’ll have you know that I am a fast runner,” he replied, walking in and setting down his bag. He turned around to see Oliver studying him intently. He shifted a little.

After a moment, Oliver nodded, apparently approving of some unknown criteria. “Come over here,” he said, gesturing towards the mirrored wall at the front of the room. “Oh, and take off your sweater.”

Barry quickly complied and hurried over, wondering out loud, “So, what are we learning first?”

“The warm-ups, of course.”

“Right, right! Of course.” Barry could totally do this, he thought as he imitated Oliver’s position.

 

Two hours later, Barry was seriously reconsidering his choice to join this competition as he rubbed his thighs. Oliver was a very uncompromising teacher, and he pushed Barry harder than he had expected. Barry felt exhausted everywhere.

“Here,” Oliver said, passing him a pint-sized water bottle. “You look like you need it.”

Barry snatched the water bottle, scowling up at his partner. The damn bastard didn’t even look like he was sweating much. “I think this might actually kill me,” he muttered, taking a long swig of water. “How are you not tired?” He asked. 

“Practice, I suppose,” Oliver said. “Don’t worry too much about it. Same time tomorrow?”

Barry groaned, making Oliver chuckle. “Sure, why not?”

 

Thankfully, Barry’s dancing skills improved quickly, and he found himself looking forward to the first performance. He put on a dark red dress shirt and black pants, and showed off his outfit to Iris. She nodded approvingly. 

“I am so glad that I don’t have to wear heels like some of those professional dancers on television,” Iris said as they walked down to the school auditorium. “I don’t know how they do it. Their feet must be made of steel.”

Barry nodded. Iris was wearing a simple yellow dress with a flowing skirt. Her partner, Eddie, had gaped at her for a moment before rushing off to help backstage. 

“Are you excited?” He asked. 

“A little excited, a bit nervous,” Iris replied. 

Barry raised an eyebrow. “You, nervous?”

“I am nervous! I baked enough brownies to feed everyone in the audience!”

Barry glanced behind their front-row seats to the students and faculty members filtering into the auditorium. There must have been at least 60 people already and there were still more entering. 

“You’re going third, right?” he asked. “At least you’ll be done quickly. I’m going last.”

Iris patted his arm. 

Behind him, a voice that he recognized as Cisco’s said, “Yo, Barry! Nice digs!”

Barry twisted to see Cisco and burst out laughing. For some reason, a part of him had expected Cisco to still be wearing one of his trademark graphic t-shirts. Instead, he had his long hair tied back, blue lines painted around his eyes, and a leather jacket. “Oh my god, Cisco, what did Baez do to you?” 

“Hey, I look fabulous, ok,” Cisco replied, waving a hand dramatically. Next to him, Caitlin was covering her mouth, soft snickers escaping from time to time. She had on a sparkly dress that Barry recognized from the one time they had gone to a bar (Caitlin had ended up drunk to the point of sickness). He sent her a thumbs up. 

The lights dimmed and the audience cheered. A young man Barry didn’t recognize walked out onto the stage in front of the curtains, holding a microphone and signaled for the audience to quiet. 

“Welcome to Dancing with the Students!” he said. “My name is Hartley Rathaway, and I’m one of the three judges. We ask that you please refrain from using flash photography during this performance. If you need to leave at any time, please use the two doors marked EXIT at the back of the auditorium, and please be respectful of all the performers today. At the end of the performance, you will be asked to text in your votes, so keep your phones at hand, but please silence them. Nothing disrupts a dance like a Marimba in the middle of a performance. Thank you all for being here today.” Hartley Rathaway exited the stage to loud applause as the curtains lifted and  _ My Songs Know What You Did in the Dark  _ started playing. 

One by one, the fifteen “pro” dancers entered the stage, each doing a little choreography. For a moment, Barry forgot that he was soon going to be on that stage. The last dancer to enter the stage was Oliver, who was wearing a green dress shirt. 

Finally, the three judges entered the stage and introduced themselves-Hartley Rathaway again, Lucy Lane, and Shado Fei-and sat behind a table on the far right side of the stage. Barry could feel his palms start to sweat. 

Tommy and Laurel were the first couple to dance. Barry tried to pay attention to the dances, but each one passed by far too quickly, and before he knew it, he was being pulled backstage by a backstage volunteer. 

Oliver was standing in the wing, hands behind his back. When he saw Barry, he waved and walked over. “How are you feeling?” he whispered. 

“Like I should probably wash my hands,” Barry whispered back. “How are you so calm?”

Oliver’s mouth gave a one-sided quirk. “You get used to it, but the jitters never really go away. Don’t worry, you’ll do great.”

“Thanks,” Barry whispered, wiping his palms against his pants again. 

Carter Hall and Alex Danvers’ dance criteria ended, and they both exited, smiling and holding hands. The moment they entered the wing, though, their smiles vanished and they both pulled their hands away, glaring at each other. 

Then Shado was announcing, “The last couple of the night is Barry Allen and Oliver Queen!” and they were walking onto the stage. The lights burned Barry’s vision for a moment, and he halfway raised his hand to shield his eyes before catching himself and lowering it. He blinked hard a couple of times to get the spots out of his vision. He turned to stand in his starting position. 

Their song started slowly, as did their movements. “ _ Where have all the good men gone And where are all the gods? Where's the street-wise Hercules To fight the rising odds? Isn't there a white knight upon a fiery steed? Late at night I toss and I turn and I dream of what I need.” _

Then the fast beat dropped, and their pace sped up. “ _ I need a hero! I need a hero ‘till the morning light! He’s gotta be strong and he’s gotta be fast and he’s gotta be fresh from the fight!” _

The audience cheered and Barry could see Lucy Lane trying not to laugh. A strange burst of exhilaration was coursing through him, and he shared a big grin with Oliver as they clasped hands and spun. 

The song ended with a final “ _ I need a hero! _ ” and Barry and Oliver struck a final pose with one arm around each other’s shoulders and the other high in the air. His chest was heaving. Barry could see Iris cheering, as well as Cisco recording the whole thing on his phone. 

Then it was time to hear the judges’ criticisms, and Barry braced himself. He had caught onto the three judges’ styles early on. Shado was the “harsh” one, giving real critique and pointing out flaws, Hartley was the dramatic one, making ridiculous statements and trying to draw the crowd into a laugh, and Lucy was the middle ground. 

Lucy went first. “I’m not going to lie, when I first saw your song choice, I wasn’t going to take you very seriously. But you two blew my expectations out of the water! Great job.”

Hartley held up a tiny slip of paper and said, “If either of you are gay, here’s my number.” The audience roared. “But really, that was great. Can’t wait to see you guys next week.”

Shado said, “You did great, but I noticed that Barry spun too far a few times and your steps weren’t quite in sync in some places.”

Barry nodded very seriously over the audience’s booing. 

Finally, they were at the voting stage, and all fifteen couples gathered on the stage. 

“Alright, the votes are in!” Lucy exclaimed, making her final tallies on a card. “This week’s eliminated couple is... Mari McCabe and Jefferson Jackson! Thank you all for being here tonight! Don’t forget that next week’s theme is electronic music, and each week from now on is a double elimination! Goodnight!”

Barry saw Mari and Jax step away from the line. They looked disappointed, but not overly crushed. Next to him, Iris whooped and hugged Eddie, then Barry, then grimaced away from his sweaty body. 

Oliver grabbed Barry’s hand as they exited the stage in order to not lose him. Once they were outside, he grinned and held his hand up for a high five. “Tomorrow, we start learning the choreography for our next dance. The song I’m thinking of is  _ Bad Boy _ by Cascada. Sound good?”

Barry nodded and said, “Well, I’m gonna go wash off all this sweat. See you tomorrow!”

 

Barry was feeling a lot more confident the next week, which was probably why the universe decided to smack him in the face. He and Oliver were halfway through their choreography when he slipped. On his butt. In front of the entire audience and three judges. He panicked for a moment, time slowing down. Oliver reached down towards him, and Barry grabbed his hand, hauling himself back up. After that fall, though, there was no way they were going to stay in the competition.

Sure enough, when Hartley revealed the final votes, Barry and Oliver had been eliminated, as well as Roy Harper and Felicity Smoak. 

They exited stage left, shoulders down, and Professor Lance, the dance teacher, shook each of their hands. 

“That was a nasty fall you took out there, son,” he said. “I’m sorry. You really did have potential, y’know.”

“Thanks, Professor Lance,” Barry replied. 

“Now, all of you do get a full semester’s credit, as well as free seats for the rest of the competition,” Professor Lance said. “You’re not obligated by any means, but any time you wanna come support your remaining friends, feel free to come sit.” He handed out ticket passes for all four of them. 

Barry sighed, walking back to his dorm room alone. 

**Author's Note:**

> **Note: these couples do not reflect the writer's shipping beliefs, though some of these are actual ships. 
> 
> Yes, Oliver did use the Shrek version of Holding Out for a Hero. Obviously. Here's a link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dLHCS6oL7lo


End file.
